It’d been a rather slow day at the dungeon. There’d only been a handful of runners, and their attempts had finished early, so Vee decided to go and check on Thien to see if the new dungeon rewards were finally ready while Alforde sparred with Holly down in his arena. He was grateful for the opportunity to get out into the city once again while it was still light out, and relished the ever so slightly warm air as spring continued inching closer.
When he opened the door to Thien’s shop, Vee expected to hear a bell, but he wasn’t ready for the cacophony of chimes, chirps, and squeals that greeted his ears as he stepped inside. The [Gold Smith] poked her head out from the back, eyes wide, and visibly relaxed when she saw who it was. There was a suspicious thud as she came out, wiping her hands on her oddly clean apron. Her guilty expression told Vee what he hadn’t wanted to ask; he wasn’t going to be leaving with his rewards.
Indeed, he could see half formed pieces on a table in the back, a motley collection of clasps and stones that had yet to be assembled and polished.
“Thien,” he said, “you’re still not finished?”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly as she came up to the counter. “I meant to have them done yesterday, but then I got distracted and things just…didn’t work out the way I wanted them to.”
Vee took a careful look at Thien’s face, relieved that she seemed to be doing better than she had been the last time he’d seen her. Her eyes weren’t bloodshot messes anymore, and her hands weren’t trembling. Those were both good things, but the fact remained that despite his up-front payment she had yet to finish his order. It was now a week and a half overdue, and while the [Dungeon Master] didn’t want to be rude or unkind, he needed to get some proper rewards for the dungeon.
Alforde had been overperforming lately, thanks in no small part to his powerful-but-stubbornly-inconsistent Domain and his diligent sparring sessions with Holly, but the fact remained that Vee had already been forced to awkwardly award victorious adventurers vouchers for future runs and discount coupons for the Lobby.
Beyond being bad for business, neither of those were the type of thing to generate positive word-of-mouth among the out-of-town adventurers who’d soon be coming for the dungeon development committee. If anything, they’d hurt Crestheart’s future ability to attract new contenders in the months and years to come.
“I get it but, you know, you’re really putting me in a bind here,” he told her.
“Like I said, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll have them done soon. All the pieces are prepped, I just have to [Solder] them together and the [Polish] them until they shine. It won’t take any time at all.”
Vee carefully considered how to best respond. He wanted to ask why they weren’t ready then, if the remaining work was so insignificant, but he held his tongue. Reginald’s brim was tight around his forehead, and the [Dungeon Master] knew that he had to be mindful of his words. He decided to approach the subject from a different direction, looking around the shop for things that might be interfering with the [Gold Smith]’s work. He noted the small piles of dust and metal shavings in the corners of the work that hadn’t ever been there before, and the layer of gunk on all Thien’s display cases.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re confident you’ll have them done soon, because I really need them. Look, Thien…I don’t know exactly how to ask this, and I’m sorry if this comes across harshly, but…are you okay? You seem jumpier than usual, and the place is kind of a wreck.”
The [Gold Smith] sighed and shook her head after a moment.
“Maybe? Sort of? There’s just a lot going on right now. I don’t know; I thought I was fine after I got back from…you know, but every time I try to focus and work, things just seem to get away from me. My thoughts start racing and before I know it, hours have passed without me getting anything done.”
Now that sounded familiar.
“Do you think a change of scenery would help?” Vee asked. “Maybe having a different set of walls around and a different desk to work at and a new routine would make it easier for you to get back into your groove?”
“Maybe.”
[Plotting +1]
“I think I can help you then,” Vee said. “Come with me.”
There was a flicker of hope in Thien’s eyes when she met Vee’s gaze. “Okay. What exactly did you have in mind?”
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What Vee had in mind was the large, freshly cleared – and thanks to the members of his light section, freshly cleaned – workshop next to Juniper’s flower store. With the rapidly approaching dungeon circuit, Vee really wanted to expand the amount of offerings in what he was starting to loosely think of as “Crestheart Square”, and he’d decided to paint two walls with one big splatter. He’d directed his fiends to begin readying buildings, but hadn’t yet started diligently recruiting people to bring their businesses over or start new ones yet.
Hopefully Thien would mark the beginning of that effort. He’d have to get serious about it in the days and weeks to come if he wanted any chance of making the place look good in time.
He turned to the [Gold Smith] and flashed a nervous smile. “Well, what do you think?”
Thien stared at the empty storefront Vee’d pointed out, then looked over at the area around the dungeon and tower and grimaced.
“It’s…it’s not particularly pretty,” she finally said. “Feels kind of soulless, you know?”
There was no arguing with that. While the streets were clear and the buildings were free of broken windows and missing doors, they were almost completely bare. The decorations – faded ribbons tied around lamp posts, mostly – that lined the paths in Oar’s Crest proper were nonexistent. Similarly, there weren’t any flowerpots, or statues, or other pieces of art like those favored by shopkeepers and private citizens throughout the city.
“Yeah, we’re working on that,” Vee said. He’d had a couple chats with Kai about the bonsai treant’s so-called “Verdant Construction”, which would hopefully prettify the area around the dungeon and inspire traffic beyond adventurers looking to run the dungeon. His [Menagerie Caretaker] was slated to begin work on that as soon as the last of the snow melted and his powers were back to normal.
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“I swear, Thien, this place is going to look gorgeous in a few months!” Reginald chirped. Vee felt his hat shifting, which could only mean that the [Core Spirit] had broken out his most mischievous grin. “If you don’t mind the occasional fiend attack or two!”
With a grunt, Vee batted Reginald’s brim. “Shut up. You know that not everyone gets your sense of humor.”
“Sorry boss.”
Seeing the expression on Thien’s face, Vee hurried to calm the [Gold Smith].
“Don’t listen to Reginald. There hasn’t been a single fiend attack since we’ve opened, unless you count those kids that snuck over the wall during the street fair, and we don’t. My orchestra is clearing all the buildings around the dungeon, and at this pace, the entirety of the abandoned section of the city will be cleared in a couple of years. There won’t be a fiend to be seen.”
“But how?” Thien snapped. “The adventurer’s guild has been doing stuff like that for years, and the fiends always come back. Why do you think you’re going to be able to keep them clear?”
Vee shrugged. “None of the buildings my orchestra clears ever have fiends come back. I don’t know why that’s the case, just that it is.”
She didn’t look convinced with her arms folded across her chest, but Vee didn’t know what else to say. Even Rortenferry hadn’t been able to pin down the reason for his orchestra’s success at keeping the fiends away for good, though the [Professor] believed that it had something to do with the orchestra “owning” the buildings they cleared.
“So? You in?”
“I’m still not sure,” Thien said quietly. “It’d be nice to have a new space, but I’m not convinced I want to leave my current shop. I’ve been there for a long time.”
“You don’t have to give it up completely,” Vee said quickly. “Just come work here for a couple weeks and see if it helps you feel better. Why not give it a shot, huh? You have nothing to lose, right?”
Thien bit her lip, weighing her options and mulling things over. Though she wasn’t inside Crestheart, Vee felt as if he had a flicker of his new sight when she closed her eyes and sighed.
She was in.
[Persuasiveness +1]
“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” she said finally. “If you’re willing to help me carry some of my tools over and get a new work bench, I’ll set up a micro studio here.”
The Expectation on Vee’s shoulders purred like a kitten in front of a cozy fireplace, and the [Ghost Maestro] grinned. “Deal. Now, if you’ll wait here for just a second, we’ll go ahead and get started.”
Reaching through his bond to Do, Vee summoned the [Dungeon Maintainer], who appeared from the depths of the dungeon promptly with a collection of materials under one arm and a belt of tools – self-made, if their crude shapes were any sign – around his waist. He bowed.
“How may I assist you, Master?”
Vee pointed to Thien. “She needs a new workbench for fine metal work. Please get the appropriate measurements for it and anything else she wants and start working on them all as soon as possible.”
“Of course. Madam, please tell me what you need.”
Leaving Do with Thien and telling them both to come and get him when they were finished, Vee tucked his hands into his pockets and started making his way back to his lab. There was work up there that he needed to do.
----------------------------------------
The lab was a chaotic mess, with bits of ectoplasm scattered on the floor and half-finished ghosts hanging from the new series of hooks and lines suspended from the ceiling. Vee was in the process of streamlining his desks and production processes so that he’d be able to keep up with the demand for new ghosts once the circuit started up, though he was starting to suspect that he’d need to knock down a wall or two and expand the lab to get extra space and maybe train a medium section fiend to work as an assistant too. He was already feeling like he was rapidly approaching his limit for personal efficiency.
Weaving his way around the debris, the [Ghost Maestro] tried to decide what to tackle first. Bending down in front of a pile of red refined ectoplasm cubes, he decided to prepare the stock of sheets that Brice would need for his first run of the dunpla figures. It was the easiest and fastest, requiring only his newly built flattening machine. He’d originally wanted one of his fiends to do it, but Rortenferry hadn’t been optimistic about the prospect of sneaking one of his orchestra members into the city proper and had convinced him that the machine was a better option for the time being. However, Vee still wanted to find a way to get a member of his medium section into Brice’s workshop. Maybe he could get a permit, or something.
Anyways, that was a problem for Future Vee, and Present Vee pushed the matter from his mind. Getting all the cubes moved over to the new workstation took him a few trips, but Vee didn’t mind. Neither was he bothered by the ache in his forearms and as he set the last ones down. The discomfort was physical proof of a job well done.
He sat down on his roughly hewn stool and grabbed a red cube from the top of the pile. Carefully, he set it down on the plate of perfectly smooth ectoplasm and grabbed the perfectly shaped handle. Rortenferry had made the machine, and the craftsmanship was lovely. It was buttery smooth to use, and flattening the cube required no more strength than opening a door.
Lift the lever, place the cube, pull the lever, remove the flattened sheet. Repeat.
Before he’d made it a third of the way through his stack, Vee lost himself in the steady rhythm of his work. Time slipped away too, until Reginald painfully tightened his brim and got the [Dungeon Master]’s attention.
“Boss, I just heard Alforde clomping up the steps, which means it’s almost time for our evening strategy session. Come on, let’s go up to the office, I’m bored as can be down here.”
Vee took a good look at his handiwork. Three stacks of thin ectoplasm sheets stood next to his machine, and there weren’t many cubes left to flatten.
That was good, but Vee still felt as if he was running out of time as he got up and made his way to the door. He cast a wary eye over toward the corner of the room where Nock was imprisoned, and resigned himself to come down and talk to the weaponsoul again tomorrow.
Main Character Sheets:
Vee Vales
Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 29
Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 21
Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 5
Might: 13
Wit: 33
Faith: 21
Adventurousness: 7
Ambition: 14
Plotting: 20 (+1)
Charisma: 15
Devious Mind: 23
Leadership: 17
Guts: 14
Intimidating Presence: 10
Citizenship: 20
Public Relations: 7
Determination: 2
Persuasiveness: 3 (+1)
<3***Infatuation***<3
Alforde Armorsoul:
Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 24
Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 14
Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 14
Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 5
Might: 41
Wit: 12
Faith: 28
Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 9
Endurance: 21
Intimidating Presence: 12
Heart of a Champion: 9
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8
Vigilance: 6
Vanity: 1
Reginald :
Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???
--~%@(%$@ &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#$@!)~--, #$v@& ????
Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 39
Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 16
Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 8
Might: 1
Wit: 33
Faith: 14
Ambition: 27
Greed: 22
Deceptiveness: 27
Manipulativeness: 37
$#&*!@!!: !!!
Loyalty: 47
Patience: 9
[#&%%%@%!#@__--#%]
Hop@#!! @#$@!@#
@#$@%%^
#4^5#*&_!+++#(@$#
Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 7