Duke stood at the entrance to the gateway building, having arrived early. Sleep had evaded him as he spent the night pondering all the things that could go wrong in the delve and coming up with plans on how to counter them. He was confident in the group he had gathered, but was sure the final waves of the dungeon were going to be a challenge, even for this group. He kept his “ultimate” contingency plan in the back of his head throughout his planning thoughts.
While he was waiting, he reviewed all the changes in his Skills and Abilities over the past few days. There were increases in numerous Abilities and some skills like Diplomacy but there was one Ability in particular that was beginning to really concern him. That was his Aura of Prosperity. Even though the Ability was only nearing the middle of the Initiate rank at Level 14, it was causing an alarming wealth overflow from Havenreach’s dungeon. The city’s crafters were exceptionally productive and the quality of everything was amazing. These all should be great things for him and his people but that much wealth generating so quickly seemed like a major issue.
He delved into the formula to try and figure out what was driving the relatively low ranked Ability to such heights of effect. It seemed like one of the simpler formulas for any of his Abilities. It consisted of his Psyche modifier plus his level, all multiplied by the rank number of the Ability. When he calculated it out, it came to a 1,308% Prosperity bonus. At thirteen times expected output, it was a massive bonus to the productivity of his kingdom, but at the Initiate rank, it only extended 130 kilometers, so not all of the kingdom was covered, and the radius moved with him so if he spent any significant time away from Cloudspire, there would be areas that had grown used to the boost that suddenly lost it. It would be an economic collapse for them. In the end, he realized that it wasn’t his Ability’s rank that was the driving factor. It was his Psyche modifier, providing that additional 422 into the formula. With a shrug, he put that aside as he had no intention of slowing down his Psyche advancement.
He was still mulling the possibilities over when the others began to arrive. Axis arrived last which was uncharacteristic for the man, but seeing his wife and three daughters in tow, Duke understood. Getting a whole family up and moving was never easy. The thought threatened to bring memories of his past back to the surface, but Duke locked that part of his mind back down with full aggression. Instead, he focused on greeting everyone.
“Good morning. I hope you all got a good night’s sleep. Today is going to be a busy day. Whether it is shopping in Cloudspire or joining me on a massive dungeon delve, we will all be busy.” He instantly knew he had made a mistake when Axis’s daughters suddenly sported worried looks. Duke immediately went into “damage control” mode and started explaining.
“It seems I have said something that has created some concerns for you. Perhaps it was the piece about the dungeon delve?” He looked meaningfully at the children, receiving an exaggerated nod from the youngest. “Ah, I see. There’s no need to worry. IF things get too difficult, I can pull us all out in an instant. Everything will be just fine.”
Axis chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine, girls. Enjoy your day of shopping and we can all meet up for dinner afterwards.” That seemed to calm the girls down enough for them all to move on.
The guards at the entryway stepped aside as they approached, allowing them passage. Duke looked at them curiously as this behavior didn’t align with his expectations. It felt to him like the guards were preventing citizens from leaving Havenreach and that was not acceptable. I’m going to have a long talk with them when we come back and see what’s what.
Ignoring the guards for now, they all filed into the building and made their way through the portal to the Hall of Possibilities and finally the Hall of Trade before Duke opened a Portal to Cloudspire.
“Quite the series of steps to get from Havenreach to Cloudspire. Is it always like this?” Salandra asked.
“This is the normal path to get to Havenreach. It is such a especially important city to me that I want it protected as much as possible.”
“Mommy, we’re special!”
“And important!”
“Yes, you both are, Carolanne and Lynn. Now we need to let daddy go off and do his adventuring thing while we go…shopping!”
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All three girls squealed and excitedly hurried to join their mother. She shot Axis a “be careful” look to which he nodded, and then they were off exploring the city. The guards that followed them were subtle, but Axis picked up on them immediately.
“Thank you, Duke.”
“Nothing more precious than family. Let’s go meet up with the others and get this delve going.”
With a gesture, the group was in the throne room where they found Aurelia, Baslin, and Eihlen waiting for them. Duke proceeded into introductions.
“OK, since not everyone knows everyone else yet, I’ll run down list so we all at least have a general sense of what each other are capable of. First, this is Baslin the Best. He is our resident Archmage and is our magical backbone for this outing. He is not spec’d out primarily for offense but has myriad spells that will help us. Next is Eihlen. She is the best healer I know and comes to us from the Thrice Blessed Legion. Now we have Aurelia. She is the general of the Thrice Blessed Legion and is ideal for leading larger groups but is no slouch on the front lines. She is also my love.” Duke paused to give her a quick kiss which she chuckled through, and then pulled him in for a much deeper one.
Once Duke regained his composure, he continued. “Here we have Jablach. He is a melee specialist and will be the tip of our spear. He is the one that trained me in how to fight in the arena. We only had a short time, but he laid a significant foundation for me. Next is Greslarnier, our mind mage who will help us stay in communication and coordinated with each other. Finally, this is Axis who was the leader of the arena faction Leviathan. He is also exceptionally accomplished in melee so will be another front-line fighter.”
The next few minutes were spent in conversation before Duke decided to just TELEPORT the group to the Thirsty Scorpion. Conversation ceased for the moment as the disorientation interrupted everyone.
“Let’s grab a table and talk for a bit. Then we can prepare and head into the dungeon.”
As they grabbed one of the larger tables and settled down, Dagny arrived. “What can I get you? Something to drink perhaps? Today’s special is the Date Palm Punch.”
Duke smiled as the group looked at the minotaur bartender in surprise. “I’ll take one of those. Are they as good as the Electric Lemonade?”
“It is a far more complex drink, but quite tasty if I do say so myself. I’ll just bring a round to the table and you all can decide for yourselves. It will be good to get some live feedback on my drink experiments.”
“Experiments? Did you say experiments?” Baslin asked, nearly rising out of his seat to follow the minotaur before Aurelia gently held him in place and guided him back to his seat.
The minotaur winked at Baslin and went back to the bar where he created the seven drinks which he brought back in finely etched crystal glasses placed on a silver tray. One by one, he placed the drinks before each of them, admonishing them to wait for the others before drinking. Once they all had their drinks, Dagny held one himself and offered a toast. “To a successful delve. May you all complete the dungeon and reap the tremendous rewards that await you!”
The group saluted each other with their glasses and took a drink. Duke found the drink to be surprisingly complex with a mix of tartness and sweetness as well as a gentle fizz to it. Overall, he thought it had an earthy flavor which he most closely identified with caramel. From the looks and sounds around the table everyone thought it was tasty.
“Like nothing I’ve ever had before.” Baslin declared, starting to stand up again before being pulled back into his seat. “But it’s experiments! New ingredients. Even an entirely new realm of alchemy for me. I must investigate!”
“After the delve. After the delve.” Duke reassured Baslin. “After we are done with the dungeon, you can take all the time you like to hang with Dagny and experiment with him.”
With no small reluctance, Baslin returned his attention to the group and joined the discussion of roles and responsibilities for the delve. Duke relayed everything he encountered in his first run and they all discussed their possible approaches.
“So, what I am hearing is that we could leave the first fifteen or twenty waves up to you, Duke.”
“Yes and no. I was able to handle those waves, but I was also cheating in a way that I’m not going to go into. If we want the full rewards from the dungeon, cheating is not an option for this run.”
The next hour was spent discussing tactics and plans for the dungeon run. Now that they were all together, plans were rapidly solidified but the question of how to spend all the credits that Duke had earned in the first run was still open and would not be answered until they were actually in the dungeon.
Throughout the course of the discussion, Dagny brought out snacks and drinks for the group much to their delight. When they felt that their plans were set enough, they all got up and followed Duke to the dungeon entrance. To their surprise, Dagny was standing there with a tray full of paper bags.
“Please take one each. Snacks for the dungeon delve. I wish you the best of luck and remember that you can leave after any wave.”
Eihlen spoke up. “How much do we owe you for all this?”
Dagny smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s all on Duke’s tab.”
Duke laughed. “Yep, definitely on my tab. Now. Let’s go conquer this dungeon!”
With smiles on their faces, they all entered the dungeon.