As he’d said in the morning, Ari joined them on their trip to the third of the local Dungeons. It was also the one they were looking forward to the least, or at least, Jake was.
The idea of struggling through mud while fighting Krok flies wasn’t exactly pleasant, that was for sure. At least the huge bugs were slow and easy to pick off, but that was about the only upside he could think of.
Fortunately, the mud outside the dungeon was easy enough to see, so they could pass around the worst of it. To an extent, anyway. It seemed that Aspen hadn’t been exaggerating when he talked about how waterlogged the whole area was.
Avoiding a foul-smelling pool of stagnant water, Jake moved over to walk with Nepthys.
“Sorry I ran off so abruptly earlier,” Nepthys said softly, pitching her voice to keep her words between them.
“No, it’s okay, I understand why,” Jake said with a smile. “We don’t want to make anything awkward, right?”
“Exactly,” Nepthys said, giving him a relieved smile. “I don’t think we should change anything about how we act around the others, or when we’re in a Dungeon.”
“That does make sense.” Jake nodded slowly. He hadn’t really considered how what had happened earlier would effect them within Dungeons. Keeping things the same did sound like a good idea, though.
“Good.” Nepthys flashed him a broad smile before dropping down to a heated whisper. “Once we’re back, though, I wouldn’t mind a repeat of earlier.”
Jake cleared his throat, feeling abruptly too warm all of a sudden. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Nepthys took one look at his expression before laughing throatily and waving away the questioning look from the others.
Flushing even more, Jake hurried forward to the head of the group and tried to get himself settled and under control. They were going into a potentially dangerous situation, after all. This wasn’t the time to get distracted.
-**-
Thankfully, this Dungeon was just as deserted as the others, so they took a few minutes to visit Ivaldi before heading inside. Alan and Jake didn’t really have anything to withdraw, but they did take the chance to stock up on healing potions and rations.
Aspen was withdrawing a large parcel of steaks, but they didn’t want to be completely reliant on his cooking. Ari took out a large parcel as well, but Jake had a feeling that it wasn’t food.
“Ivaldi, do you mind if I ask a question?” Jake asked, moving over to the storekeeper once the others had left.
Ivaldi nodded and gestured for Jake to take a seat. “You may ask, but I promise no answers.”
Jake shrugged and sat down. “Well, I wanted to ask how Varin is. I’m worried that the Fatesworne will target him now that we’re out of their reach. For now, anyway.”
“Your concern does you credit, but Varin is in no danger from them. It seems their focus is entirely on you, and to a lesser extent, Nepthys.”
Jake frowned at that. “I thought you hadn’t heard of the Fatesworne before I mentioned them? Yet now you are sure that Varin is not their target?”
Ivaldi leaned back and considered Jake’s words for a few moments before slowly nodding. “That is correct. Once you brought them to my attention, I was able to involve myself in the situation. To an extent.”
“Involve yourself?” Jake repeated, his eyes narrowing as he met the shopkeeper’s calm gaze. “I don’t understand. What exactly have you done?”
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“I must remind you that I am bound by rules. This skirts upon the edge of that. For now, take me at my word regarding Varin.”
“Every time I take a step forward, I find some new block from me truly understanding everything,” Jake said, getting to his feet as he spoke and fixing Ivaldi with a hard glare. “One day, I’ll understand it all. You can be certain of that.”
“I do believe that you will,” Ivaldi said softly. “I will watch your progress with interest, Jake Khesh.”
Jake frowned, not sure what to make of this whole conversation. Shaking his head, he turned to leave. It was time to focus on the Dungeon. He’d reflect on all this later.
-**-
The third Dungeon was just as bad as Aspen had described. Ankle-deep mud covered everywhere they went, not enough to be a true hazard. More than enough, however, to make the whole delve intensely unpleasant.
Dodging acid required swift movements, which was all but impossible in the thick blanket of mud. That meant more minor injuries for them, and a few embarrassing slips in the mud.
By the time they defeated the giant acid-spitting beetle at the end of the Dungeon, they were all filthy and more than ready to take a break.
Gathering their Wyrdgeld, they trudged on to the exit, Jake leading the way. As much as he disliked this Dungeon, he was eager to see what Boons it had to offer.
It did feel slightly disrespectful to be trudging mud through the heart of the Dungeon and getting it on its Throne. Then again, this mud was the Dungeon’s fault to begin with.
Jake went through the usual steps to bind the Dungeon before moving on to the Boons it offered. At first glance, there was nothing that spoke to him, but something made him give the last one a second look.
The voices whispered about moving freely and without restraint. At first, Jake had taken that to mean just through mud, but it wasn’t.
He’d had more than a few Manifestation increases from the last few Dungeons, so Jake decided to risk the Boon and selected it as his reward.
Nature’s Path - (I) - Granted by the Dufsott Murk Dungeon, this Boon allows you to move without hindrance through natural terrain types. Maintaining the effect draws on the power of the Manifestation.
“Interesting,” Jake muttered to himself, reading through the Boon before nodding slowly. This would be ideal for Dungeons like this, or for more worldly problems.
The wording was somewhat ambiguous, but Jake would test it on their next delve to see what sort of effect it had.
On the thought of the next delve, Jake cleared his throat and glanced up, finding it easier to address the ceiling. “Dungeon? I was hoping to give some advice and make a request, if that is at all possible?”
The familiar weight of attention fell on Jake as he spoke, and he felt a sensation of curiosity across the newly formed bond.
“Well, I wanted to let you know that while I liked your layout, I didn’t how much mud there was. It was something none of us liked, in fact. I’d even go so far as to say it puts other classers off on venturing out here. If you reduce it, or limit it to certain areas, I think that would improve the experience.”
Jake winced at the displeasure that flowed across their bond, but he’d only spoken the truth and he was quite certain the Dungeon knew so.
“Look, I’m sure there’s a reason for the mud, but as it stands, it just isn’t a delve that I’d want to do again.”
Reluctant acceptance.
“If you make some changes, I’ll get the others to go through again,” Jake said, assessing the bond before continuing. “I’d appreciate it if you could lend us a revival room to rest in, though. Some alterations to make it more comfortable wouldn’t go amiss either. If you do that, we’ll stay for several delves and give all the feedback you need.”
Consideration. Acceptance.
Jake grinned and nodded, satisfied with what he was sensing from the Dungeon. Truthfully, he didn’t mind the idea of doing it again, just as long as the amount of mud was reduced.
-**-
“Oh, this is so much better,” Aspen said, leaping clean over a pool of thick mud to skewer a Krok fly with his spear. “This is more like a worthy challenge than a slog like before.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Jake said, hiding a smile as he felt a similar emotion come from the Dungeon.
This was their fourth delve of the night, and each one had brought some minor changes to the way the Dungeon was put together.
The final version they had now was a far cry from the original. Yes, there was a lot of mud still, but it was concentrated to deeper pools. It was possible to go the whole floor without getting muddy, but if you avoided the mud, it made it harder to deal with the monsters.
Aspen seemed to enjoy the challenge inherent in that, which was a good sign as far as Jake was concerned.
Sadly, they were all still caked in mud from the first delve, but at least they weren’t adding to it. Well, not as much anyway. Jake had been obliged to try out his new Boon in some of the worst conditions.
From what he could tell so far, the Boon was about allowing him to move freely despite where he was. When standing in mud, he’d been able to walk with no resistance at all, with no danger of slipping either.
Sadly, there wasn’t really any other way to test it in this Dungeon. Still, it had good promise, and Jake looked forward to its potential use in the future.
“Come on, let’s work through the rest and then head home,” Jake said, taking the dry path over to Aspen. “We’ve done our initial rounds, so tomorrow we should plan our next steps.”